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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Why We Do What We Do

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Michael Yon is very capable in taking a picture that has just that effect.

With all the rhetoric, with all the political wrangling, with all the posturing from both sides of the aisle, we tend to forget the real reasons we do the things we do. Make no mistake about it; our nation was attacked, we retaliated in force. That was what we should have done. However, unlike other nations in the past, we try to be a unifying force in the regions in which we maintain a military presence after military action.

Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

We are still there for a reason, and this is a clear example of what that reason is. Rebuilding.

Outstanding.

Thank you, Michael Yon, for all the hard work you are doing to make sure these stories come to us.